Subject–auxiliary inversion in Jesenic (Moderate lesson)
Because of their common origin and development, Jesenic and English both share the concept of subject-auxiliary inversion. However, there are some differences between Modern English and Jesenic when it comes to this rule; for those unaware, an explanation will come after this. Subject–auxiliary inversion in Jesenic does not rely on cases of "do-support" like "Does he go to the mall?" but rather relies on cases of inversion that, if translated directly into English, would sound extremely archaic. However, with time and practice, asking questions in the manner discussed in this lesson will become normal. Subject-auxiliary inversion: an explanation For those unaware, subject–auxiliary inversion is, explained very basically, the way in which verb and subject switch places in English (and, as you will discover, in Jèsch tág), such as the following examples: *'Has John come' home yet from work? *'Is she aware' of the recent change in time? The issue of "do-support" The concept of "do-support" is extremely common in English and really only requires a few examples for the reader to understand: *'Does he know' where the pillows are stored? *'Do they have' their money to get into the theater? Now we should look at how Jesenic deals with these concepts. The Jesenic way of subject–auxiliary inversion The modern Jesenic language deals with most basic subject-auxiliary inversion cases similarly to the way English does. Consider a previously-discussed example: *'Has John come' home yet from work? *'Hast Jan' kómmt 'da hóm fra wórk? First off, it is important to note the slight change in word order from the English sentence to its Jesenic equivalent. ''Da, meaning yet, is moved before'' kómmt''. Translating this from Jesenic, it would equal "Has John come yet home from work?" which still may make sense. There are some other adjustments you could make to the sentence as well: *'''Hast Jan kómmt da trós hóm fra hars ''wórkstádt? *'Has John come''' to home yet from his job? Even then, there are other ways to place words like da within this sentence. You could additionally place it after wórkstádt ''or after ''hóm. These would still make sense. And now, another example: *'Will you know' when he will buy the next box again? *'Will dú kènn' vánn har will kappe dig nis box agan? Note that in the phrase "dig nis box," nis and box are not combined. Adjectives similar to nis (next) that express timing will not combine with the noun coming after it- unless nis ''is being combined with another word related to units of time. More about this will be mentioned in a future lesson. In addition, the word ''kappe ''(pronounced ''kahpuh), meaning "buy," is related to a very similar English slang word meaning "to get." On a side note, the e'' at the end of ''kappe may not be pronounced in some cases. Continuing on.. it is important to mention that declarative sentences will usually change the word order in the same fashion when switched back and forth from interrogative form: *'Har will tách '''dig búch. (He will take the book.) *'Will har tách 'dig búch? (Will he take the book?) "Do-support" as it exists not ("doesn't" exist) in Jesenic The title to this segment is misleading without the "doesn't" in parentheses because "do-support" does not exist in Jesenic. Having already learned the word dère (do), you may be tempted to translate the sentence "''Does he eat fish?" as the following: *''Dèrend'' har áte fischer? This is gut-wrenchingly incorrect, to the point where I'd argue making this mistake would be an act of blasphemy against the language and even the Jesenic forefathers! But why is it incorrect? Well, it's due to the fact that the verb dère is incredibly conservative and is no auxiliary verb in Jesenic. As previously mentioned, the verb dère only means "to do," and nothing else! However, if you did translate the sentence in that manner, I would at least congratulate you for getting the subject-verb agreement correct, since dèrend (which is dère + the ending ''-ind, used for singular subjects) is correct when the singular subject pronoun ''har (he) is used. So how on earth would you format the sentence correctly? The answer is simple: *Átend har fischer? Simply put, the verb in question is placed before the subject and formatted to agree with the subject or subjects. More examples: *Mast har dig nómbirn? (Did he multiply the numbers?) *Adlittat sæ dast ich wás rigdt? (Did she admit that I was right?) *Forband ès dig piraten fra hère? (Does it ban the pirates from here?) *Bisticht tiy úsir dómer? (Did they bribe our judge?) *Bringe tiy tiyr giften? (Do they bring their gifts?) Things get more odd once you throw in the concept of negatives into this concept. More content will come to this page later.